


new and improved (or the art of printing)

by oywiththepoodles



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, featuring adorable season 1 fitzsimmons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:18:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3821800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oywiththepoodles/pseuds/oywiththepoodles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma knew it was a huge risk and likely incredibly dangerous but what choice did she have? No, they could do this. Fitz could do this. She took a deep breath and hit enter.</p>
<p>Hidden in a locked cabinet in an unused corner of the lab, a beloved 3D printer whirred into action.<br/>***</p>
<p>Before Simmons could print a copy of Fury's Toolbox, Fitz had to make the printer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	new and improved (or the art of printing)

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously though, how did Jemma make a replica of a vibranium box?! They had to have a very high-tech and presumably secret 3D printer.
> 
> I took a lot of liberty with the science, so I apologize to any tech experts out there. It's also un-beta'd, so I apologize to fans of correctly spelled words and proper grammar as well.
> 
> Cheers!

_***_

_Jemma knew it was a huge risk and likely incredibly dangerous but what choice did she have? No, they could do this._ Fitz _could do this. She t_ _ook a deep breath and hit enter._

 

_Hidden in a locked cabinet in an unused corner of the lab, a beloved 3D printer whirred into action._

 

_***_

“This is really quite an impressive setup don’t you think?”

“I suppose it’ll have to do.” Fitz grumbled -not that Simmons even heard him, distracted as she was by the shiny new lab.

“I was expecting the bare minimum, perhaps a smaller version of our lab at the academy, but this top of the line. Oh Fitz, look! A D3024R High Speed Refrigerated Micro-Centrifuge.” Simmons practically skipped across the lab.

“There were three of those just down the hall from us at Sci-Ops.”

Simmons looked at him, scandalized. “Yes, but this one is _mine.”_

“All I’m saying is we had a lot more resources at our old post.” 

“Well, this post is much more exciting and-” 

“-and dangerous.” Fitz looked at the floor and scratched an eyebrow. “Maybe this is a mistake?” 

Simmons let out a sigh and walked back over to stand next to her partner. They’d had this conversation countless times since they’d first been offered the field position. She’d always been confident in their decision, but looking at the loading bay doors, she had her first moment of doubt. 

“I- I just think there’ll come a moment when we regret this.”

She shook off her worry and put a comforting hand on Fitz’s shoulder. “We won’t actually be going into the field on any dangerous missions. They know we’re not cleared for combat. And it’s too late to back out now anyhow, so we might as well look on the bright side.”

Fitz gave a weak nod. Jemma pointed to the far corner of the lab. “For example, you are the proud owner of a superheated 3D printer...” she offered tentatively. 

Fitz’s head snapped up in excitement. “Really? They’re not supposed to be available for another 6 months at least. Sci-Ops doesn’t even have one!”

It was Fitz’s turn to skip across the lab. 

“Simmons, with this device, I could work with some of the more exciting transition metals-” Simmons smiled contentedly as Fitz ticked them off on his fingers.  “-chromium, palladium, maybe tungsten. Actually, I was looking at the specs and I think with a few minor tweaks I could rig this beauty to work with Lanthanoids, maybe even Actinoids!”

Fitz turned to Simmons and gave her his first real smile since they arrived.  

“Well, lets get settled shall we?”

 

***

 

_Fitz watched in dismay as Jemma measured the properties of Fury’s toolbox . Why would she help them? It didn’t make sense._ _His confusion increased as he watched her route the data to a rarely used drive reserved for illicit 3D printing. Why would she do that?_

_Oh._

_The puzzle pieces slid into place and Fitz had to fight to keep a smile off his face._

 

_***_

 

“It was so pretty-"

"Brand spanking new-"

"-and shiny-"

"-and now it's just rubbish, the lot of it. "

" _No!_ "

"Yes, Simmons."

"Surely, some of it is salvageable?"

"Not likely." 

"Not even the printer?"

"Well, ok maybe. Yea. The damage is probably mostly cosmetic. I could fix that. "

FitzSimmons stood side-by-side, twin looks of despair on their faces, as they surveyed the disaster area that had formerly been their lab. 

"Good news or bad news first?" Coulson called as he pushed past them to set a large stack of paper on the table with a considerable thump. 

"Good-I could use some cheering-"  "-get the bad over with.” 

“Right then, good news first: you get to fill out this paperwork!” Coulson said cheerfully.

FitzSimmons burst into simultaneous protest.   “You’ve got to be kidding. How is this good news?”

“-can’t imagine what the bad news-” 

Coulson held both hands up, silencing them.

“The bad news is that Fury put the kibosh on the fish tank.”

 “Ugh.”

“And _this,”_ Coulson motioned to the tower of paper, “is good news, because filling it out will get you all new equipment. Just mark off what’s been damaged and it’ll be replaced.” 

“Oh, that is good news!” Simmons said brightly. But Fitz just stared silently off at the corner of the lab.  “Right Fitz?” She prompted, nudging him with her elbow.

“Right,” he answered distractedly. “Sir, what happens to the broken stuff? Can we keep it?”

Coulson raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, maybe it would be good to have some spare parts around...don’t you think?” 

“There’s no room on the bus for useless junk.”

Fitz’s shoulders sagged. Coulson craned his neck to follow Fitz’s gaze. Seeing the scuffed up printer, he let out a small sigh.

“Anything you keep better be worth it-” 

Simmons let out a small squeak of excitement.

“-and out of sight!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. FitzSimmons was already disconnecting the printer before Coulson could make it out of the lab.

 

***

 

_Jemma fought the urge to glance over her shoulder. Looking nervous would do her no favors. Besides, she reasoned, there were lots of obscure instruments in this cabinet and it was not wholly unbelievable that she might need one to open Fury’s tool box. Positioning herself in front of the cabinet so as to block it from view, she grabbed the newly printed replica and shoved it in a bag containing various piezometers._

_She walked calmly back over to her work bench and when no one was looking, quickly swapped the two boxes._

_***_

 

"Strangely enough, two shots to the gut don’t really impact your hearing..."  

"No, of course they don’t-" Simmons started.

"We know that..." Fitz scoffed.

"Whelp, you could have fooled me."

The pair just stared at Skye, confused.

"I could hear you arguing outside my room..."

More blank stares.

"Something about a present?" She finished optimistically.

"Oh alright." Simmons threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "There is a present, but I wanted to wait till you were released. A sort of welcome home present.”

"And I thought we should give it to you now, because well why not." Fitz added.

“I just said why-”

"Yes - now please!" Skye interjected before they could rehash the argument. She gave  Simmons her best puppy dog face and hoped it would distract her from Fitz’s smug smirk.

 Simmons made a big show of crossing her arms in disapproval, but couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face. “Well, if you must...”

Skye let out a small whoop of excitement as Fitz peeled out of the room. Jemma had just settled on the edge of Skye’s bed when he returned, slightly out of breath. 

“Close your eyes and put out your hands,” he demanded, before plunking the gift into Skye’s outstretched hands.

Skye hesitantly cracked open an eye. “It’s a...hard drive?” She looked up at Fitz questioningly.

“Not just any hard drive-” he started

“A vibranium encased hard drive. It’s practically indestructible, like you.” Simmons gushed.

“And I was able to condense the circuitry so it can hold a little over 10 terabytes!”

Skye’s eyebrows shot up. “Woah...I could back up the whole bus three times over with that.”

“And then some” Fitz added proudly.

“It’s so small...”she trailed off wonderingly. “How did you make this?”

“Oh it was easy -well, ok not _easy-_ but once we had the design down we just shot it over to the printer and voila!”

“Hold up. Your 3D printer uses vibranium?! Where do you even get vibranium? I thought that was a made up metal.”

Fitz and Simmons exchanged nervous glances.

“Um, that’s classified-”  

“- really best if you don’t know.”

“Aw, look at you guys- breaking rules.” Skye beamed at them. “I love it, really. Best ‘glad you didn’t die’ present ever.”

***

 

_Jemma made her way to Fitz’s room, clutching a prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella  sandwich to her chest. She told herself that it was her cover, her excuse for being in his room, should she get caught. But if she were being honest, the sandwich was more than that._

_Her heart clenched as she took in the emptiness of his room. The only indication that it once belonged to Fitz was his backpack, sitting on the bed. Ever so gently, she hid a large sandwich and small vibranium box amongst the rest of his belongings._

_Then, with a small sigh, she picked up the bag and made her way to the loading bay where she knew he’d be waiting for her._


End file.
